Penn State Altoona celebrates African American Read-In with laughter

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 976 hits

ALTOONA — Penn State Altoona will take part in the twenty-third National African American Read-In Chain in February. This year's theme is "Laughter!"

A community dinner program will kick off the Read-In from 4 - 6:30 p.m., Sunday, February 12 in the Port-Sky Café. The dinner is free and open to the public. Seats are limited, and advance reservations are required. Participants are invited to share a short reading from an African-American author or listen to readings by Penn State Altoona students, faculty, staff, and other community members.

The Read-In Chain continues February 13 with "Monday Marathon," an Open Mic Read-In in the Slep Student Center. From 9 a.m. — 5:30 p.m., various dance, theatre, and musical performances will take place to celebrate African American authors and artists. A special session on black women writers will be held in the late morning, and from 12 noon - 1 p.m., Jerry Zolten, Penn State Altoona associate professor of communication arts and sciences, will present "The Tradition of Black Comedy in America." In the late afternoon, a coffee house will take place for Penn State Altoona students to share their original poetry and spoken word art. At 5:30 p.m., Adrian Matejka, featured author of the 2012 African American Read-In at Penn State Altoona will give a reading of his works.

Matejka is a graduate of Indiana University and the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His first collection of poems, The Devil's Garden, won the 2002 Kinereth Gensler Award from Alice James Books. His second collection, Mixology, was a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series and was subsequently nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

The Read-In is open to the public. For more information on the community dinner and to make reservations, call 814-949-5280 or e-mail cab11@psu.edu by January 28. To sign up for a reading time during Monday Marathon, contact Megan Simpson at mbs12@psu.edu.